The Forgotten II
by soultaker78
Summary: Sequel to The Forgotten. Tucker and Star continue their relationship and come out about it to their friends.
1. Chapter 1

It had been about two weeks since Tucker and Star got together. They had been seeing each other in secret because that's what Star wanted. They had been just spending time at Star's house. Tucker was on his way there right now.

He got to Star's house and went to her room. They talked for a while and then came to a topic Tucker was very interested in. He pulled some papers out of his backpack and showed them to Star.

"That's super neat, Tucker," Star said. She could tell they were blue prints of some kind but she had no idea what for. "What exactly am I looking at?"

"They're blue prints for my own suit of power armor," Tucker said with a wide smile.

"Like in 'Iron Man'?" Star asked and Tucker nodded yes. "Cooooooooooooooool," she said with eyes widened in wonderment as she thought of the possibilities. She wasn't sure what she'd do if Tucker agreed to let her borrow it, but she was sure she'd think of something. "But how close are you to building it?"

"No idea," Tucker said. "I could totally build a prototype with some of the advanced technology the Fentons have, but they won't let me use it. Can you believe that?"

"Actually, I can," Star said. It seemed pretty reasonable to her that the Fentons wouldn't give their advanced and dangerous tech to their son's best friend just so he could play with it in the hopes of living out some super hero fantasies. She saw the hurt look in Tucker's eyes when she said this and she realized that it was time to be supportive. "I mean, that's a damn shame."

"Yes it is," Tucker said calmly. "I suggested to them the idea of building a giant robot to deal with the possibility of Godzilla sized ghosts and they blew me off. Though I can understand Mrs. Fenton's doubts: Jack Fenton is enough of a public menace behind the wheel of a car, put him behind the wheel of a giant robot..." Tucker stopped talking and shuddered in fear of the thought.

They talked about other things for a while and then decided to make out for a while. Star enjoyed making out with Tucker and not just for the obvious reasons. When she used to make out with Kwan, it felt like he was just going through motions. Tucker was much more enthusiastic about it. He made out with her like she was the most important thing in the world to him. Star greatly appreciated the change of pace.

After making out for a while, they broke apart and Star could see a single tear out of Tucker's right eye. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing's wrong," Tucker answered then wiped the tear away. "I'm with beautiful girl who accepts me for me. I'm just so happy."

Upon hearing this, Star hugged him. Kwan sometimes acted like their being together was just one of the entitlements he got for being a jock. Compared to that and the way she was often treated as Paulina's satellite, Tucker's declaration of joy really touched her.

A part of her wondered if maybe Tucker was faking this, but she considered that very unlikely. Besides, even if he was faking it was because of how much he wanted to be with her and wanted to put forth a good effort. After so much time of having to watch what she said and kiss Paulina's ass to maintain her status, she really enjoyed having someone worry about she thought of them.

Tucker was very happy about being together with Star. Not only did he finally have a smoking hot girlfriend, but he didn't have to get one by putting on a show and pretending to be someone he wasn't. He hadn't really considered what it would be like to be with someone in that way but he was finding that he liked it.

The hug ended and they looked into each other's eyes. They made out again for a while. Once they were done with that, they went downstairs for dinner. Star's mother had made pasta with garlic bread. They couldn't go out to a restaurant because of the secret nature of their relationship, so this was the closest they could get to a romantic dinner. Normally, Star's mother left them alone but she would be dining with them tonight because she and Star wanted to talk with Tucker about some things.

Star's mother essentially looked like an older version of Star. Tucker had not met Star's dad yet. He was told that he spent 30-something weeks out of the year away on business trips.

The three of them sat down to dinner. They ate for a while before Star spoke up. "We need to talk about something important, Tucker," Star said.

"About what, Star?" Tucker asked.

"Who have you told about us?"

"I haven't told anybody yet. Who have you told?"

"I've only told Valerie and my parents."

_Shit, _Tucker thought. _The girl whose been trying to kill my best friend and briefly dated him knows about Star and me: definitely not how I'd like things. _

"Which brings me to the first matter," Star continued. "Why haven't you told your parents? I can understand why you wouldn't tell Fenton and Manson for secrecy purposes, even though that's not your only reason. I know your planning to wait a few months and then tell them about us so that you can show them that A) you're capable of getting a girlfriend despite their low opinion of you and B) they didn't notice any suspicious signs about you having a secret girlfriend because they were too busy treating you like a third wheel."

Tucker paused for a few seconds as he processed this. "You really get me, don't you?" Tucker said as he unknowingly put his hand over his heart. He had complained to Star before about how Danny and Sam occasionally took him for granted. The freedom to get this stuff off his chest was one of several things he enjoyed about his relationship with Star. He was happy to see that Star listened to his complaints about Danny and Sam and understood where he was coming from.

"I do," Star said. "Which is why I'm not mad at you. I'd use you to prove similar points to Paulina if my relationship with her weren't so unequal."

Mrs. Johnson wasn't sure how she felt about this exchange. It seemed very strange to her that not only were they planning to use each other like that, but that they were very cool about it. She decided it wasn't a big deal though. Aw well, Mrs. Johnson thought to herself, I suppose that they have similar issues with their friends means they have something in common.

"I think we've gotten off topic," Star said. "I'll repeat my earlier question: why haven't you told your parents about us?"

Tucker took a deep breath as he prepared to explain himself. "I'm not sure they'll be cool about me dating a white girl," Tucker began. "I've asked them before if they'd be cool about it and they said yes, but a hypothetical scenario and facing the real deal are two different things. Besides, it's easy to be politically correct if you think you'll never have to own up to it."

"Oh," Star said and began thinking this over.

"This kind of brings me to something I've wondered about for a while," Tucker continued. "There's no delicate way to put this, so I'll just say it: does your dad no I'm black?"

"Yes he does," Mrs. Johnson answered for her daughter.

"Good," Tucker replied. "I wouldn't want to finally meet him in person where he finds out about that right there and have it turn into a thing."

"That's understandable," Mrs. Johnson said. "Now, his parents will definitely not take the news about you Star well."

"Does that have something to do with them listening to Rush Limbaugh all day long?" Star asked.

"Mostly," Mrs. Johnson continued. "They're current choice of pet certainly doesn't help."

"What do you mean?" Tucker asked. "Do they have a Rottweiler that used to be a guard dog and was trained to attack black people on sight?"

"No," Mrs. Johnson answered. "They have a Cocker Spaniel named Checkers."

"Uh oh," Tucker said as his eyes widened in realization of the implications.

"I think I'm missing something," Star said in bewilderment.

"Can I explain this?" Tucker asked Mrs. Johnson, who nodded yes. "Star, Richard Nixon had a dog of that same breed with that same name. Your grandparents getting a similar dog and naming it after Nixon's means that they are ultra-conservatives: a group of people not know for being big supporters of interracial...ness."

"I'm impressed you knew what dog Nixon had, Tucker," Mrs. Johnson said.

"Don't be," Tucker said. "The only reason I knew that was because it was used as a joke once on Futurama."

"Look, don't worry about my grandparents," Star said. "They live in Arizona and I only see them like twice a year."

_This just gets better and better_, Tucker sarcastically thought upon learning that Star's paternal grandparents lived in a state that would like nothing more than to deport all illegal immigrants on sight and refuses to acknowledge Martin Luther King Day as a holiday [1].

"As for your parents," Star continued, "you need to tell them so that you'll know how they fell one way or the other."

"And if they don't take it well," Mrs. Johnson said, "then I will talk to them and see if I can get them to cool down."

"I'll tell them," Tucker said. "But you gotta admit: keeping our relationship a secret from people our age because we're worried about social consequences doesn't look very good."

"But we're not keeping it a secret because of racial things," Star pointed out.

"They may not care enough to make that distinction," Tucker said. "But I will still tell them about us."

"About our secrecy," Star began, "are you really cool with that?"

"Yeah," Tucker answered. "At first, I thought about how cool it would be to show everyone that I finally got a girlfriend, especially a super hot one. But then I thought about how certain people would take the news. Specifically, how Dash and Kwan would break most of the bones in my body."

"Right," Star said as she thought over how cautious Tucker was being. Dash was such a sadist that he'd be very enthusiastic about beating up Tucker so he learns his place. As for Kwan, he definitely wouldn't take it well about who she was now dating.

"As if that wasn't bad enough," Tucker continued, "I'd have to spend a long time in a hospital to get better. Wait," he said as he stroked his chin, "did I even tell you about my hospital thing yet?"

"You did," Star replied.

They three of them finished their meal as Star thought over some things. She realized that if their relationship became common knowledge the worst that would happen to her is becoming a social pariah. The worst that would happen to Tucker is a trip to the ICU. She felt really bad about putting him in such deep shit.

But there was a plus side to this. For a while now, Star had been worried that Tucker was keeping their relationship a secret just because it's what she wanted and he wanted to be with her enough to go along with it. Star didn't want to unknowingly bully Tucker into keeping his mouth shut like that because that would make her like Paulina. After dealing with Paulina's ego for so long, that was the last thing she wanted. She was relieved to see that Tucker had his own reasons for maintaining secrecy.

…..

Author's notes: [1] I do not mean this as an insult to people from Arizona, merely a critique of the state's policy.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's notes: this chapter takes place several months after the last one. It also takes place after 'Phantom Planet' but for plot reasons, I'm ignoring the whole 'Tucker becoming mayor' thing.

Tucker got back to Amity Park from Antarctica after participating in saving the world from the disasteroid. He had called Star after Danny had revealed his secret to the world. They both felt it would be better to talk about it in person and set up a time for Tucker to explain everything.

After his flight landed, he made his to Star's house once more and went to her room. "So," Star began, "your friend Danny Fenton is actually Danny Phantom."

"That's right," Tucker said. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you Star, but this was a very big deal. Danny trusted me in ways I can't even begin to describe and I didn't want to prove him wrong in placing his trust."

"First off, you'll be glad to know that I'm not mad," Star said. "Considering the nature of our relationship, I can't really be mad at you for being able to keep a secret. Besides, I'm too surprised to be mad."

"About Danny?" Tucker asked.

"No, about you," Star clarified. "You could have easily told a girl, particularly Paulina, about being friends with Danny Phantom to get on her good side, but you didn't. Why?"

"Danny put a lot of trust in me about the whole superhero thing," Tucker began. "I didn't feel like spilling his secret as a way to impress a girl that might not even work."

"You know," Star said. "I've always wondered why you've stayed friends with him and Manson when you've complained to me about how they sometimes treat you as much as you have. All you've said about it is that it's complicated and that you've had plenty of good times with them to balance out the bad. Does Danny's double life have something to do with that?"

"Yeah," Tucker answered. "Danny's been doing his best to protect the city from ghosts and he's taken quite a bit of shit for trying to do the right thing. And the only people he's had in his corner through all that is Sam and I. And later, his sister but that's another story. Considering the importance of his work and his own hardships, I couldn't just give up on him because he can be occasionally self centered."

Star was very impressed with Tucker's capacity for loyalty. As for Tucker, he had been dreading that Star would break up with him for not telling her about Danny and was immensely relieved that she was not angry. The two of them hugged each other.

"There's one last thing I want to talk about, Tucker," Star said.

"What's that?" Tucker asked.

"I want to come out about us," Star said. They broke apart from their hug.

"I was thinking about that too," Tucker said. "In case you didn't break up with me, that is. I'm best friends with the guy who just saved the planet: if that's not enough to lessen the consequences from our being together then nothing will, so this is the best time to stop the secrecy."

"Exactly," Star said enthusiastically. "But there is more to it than that. I'm tired of having to insult you behind your back to Paulina to keep up appearances with her. I'm tired of not being able to be seen in public with you. I'm tired of acting like I'm ashamed of you when nothing could be further from the truth."

"Besides," Star continued, "even with Danny's reputation helping us, things might go better than we think. Like when you finally told your parents about us."

Tucker remembered how well that went. He introduced them to Star and they didn't care that she wasn't black (or at least they were polite enough to keep their complaints to themselves). His dad had thought that their secrecy was due to race issues, but Tucker's mom recalled some of her own teenage years and explained how dating outside one's class can have consequences. Everything worked out.

"Plus," Star continued once again, "you can finally call out Fenton and Manson about how they've sometimes abused your friendship and taken you for granted."

"Oh yeah," Tucker said with a wide grin. "That's going to be fun."

Star cracked a grin of her own. She was happy that Tucker was finally going to speak his mind to his friends. She was also looking forward to doing the same with Paulina.

"This Danny thing is still going to take some getting used to," Star said. "I mean, he and Valerie dated for a while and she….."

"Wait, you know about Valerie's ghost hunting?" Tucker asked.

"YOU know about Valerie's ghost hunting!" Star exclaimed.

_Oh f^k, _Tucker thought.

…

Many awkward minutes later, Tucker and Star had cleared up the Valerie mess. He invited Danny and Sam to his house saying that he had some things to explain. They went to his room and were surprised to see Star there.

"What's she doing here?" Sam asked.

"That's part of why I asked you here," Tucker began. "Star and I have been seeing each other since Valentine's Day."

Danny blinked a few times in bewilderment as Tucker and Star held hands. "That was over six months ago," he said.

"That's right," Tucker said. There was an awkward silence among the group for a while.

"But….. how…. what," Danny stammered out, too shocked to form proper sentences.

"My sentiments exactly," Sam said.

Tucker and Star then gave a brief explanation of how they got together and why they've stayed together despite having to keep their relationship a secret for so long. When they were done with the story, Tucker explained that Star only found out about Danny's double life at the same time as everyone else.

"There's one last thing I want to say," Tucker said. "You two have not always been the best of friends to me: making me feel like a third wheel, leaving me hanging in bad situations, poking fun at my love of technology. For now, let's focus on the third wheel thing: I was able to keep a secret girlfriend from you two for over half a year because of how little interest you had in my life."

_Aw crap_, Danny thought to himself as he realized that Tucker was absolutely right about how he was treated.

Sam was feeling even worse about this current development. Like Tucker, she occasionally got sidelined by Danny's priorities so she knew how he felt. Unlike Danny, she didn't have overwhelming responsibility or getting into battles with vicious ghost as excuses.

"I know what you do is important, Danny," Tucker said. "But you can get so caught up in it sometimes that it turns you into a real smeghead sometimes."

"A what?"

"You'd get that if you followed my recommendation to watch Red Dwarf."

"I'm a little busy to watch old British sci-fi shows, Tucker," Danny said in an attempt to defend himself, realizing that not following Tucker's recommendation was another example of ignoring him.

As Tucker and Danny continued to talk, Sam noticed that Star was smiling because of their exchange. Sam nodded her head to indicate to Star that she wanted to talk to her. They stepped a couple feet away from the boys so they could talk.

"You're okay with Tucker using you to take Danny down a notch?" Sam asked.

"I am," Star replied. "Tucker's vented to me about you two a couple times so I'm glad to see him finally standing up for himself. Besides, I'm going to use my relationship with him to show Paulina how she can be a superficial, self-absorbed egomaniac, so it all evens out."

"You're all right Blondie," Sam said with a smile, amused that she and Star had a similar opinion of the popular Latina.

"I'm glad to hear that," Star said. "Because in the likely event that Paulina kicks me out of the A-list for daring to defy her, I'm going to be in the market for some new friends. Although we're going to have to lay down some ground rules for not imposing each other's lifestyle on the other, ms. 'changed the school's lunch menu to force vegetarianism on everybody'."

Sam's eyes and mouth widened in shock. She was planning to defend her environmentalist views but decided not for a few reasons. Primarily, she was hoping to start making it up to Tucker for her own treatment of him by making nice with his girlfriend. Also, after thinking of Star as Paulina's vapid follower for so long, she was impressed with her display of backbone. Lastly, Star's suggestion of mutual non-interference was a very fair compromise.

Danny and Tucker finished their chat. Danny said he was sorry for not being the best friend he could be and vowed he would do better. He also said that Tucker could harass him into keeping his word if things came to that.

Danny also told Tucker about how he and Sam had just decided to be more than friends. He asked Tucker for any girlfriend advice he might have. Tucker smiled at Danny's admission of Tucker having more experience with girls and shared some tidbits wisdom he'd gained from his time with Star.

…

A few days later, word had spread about Tucker and Star. Much to the couple's surprise, nobody raised a big deal about it. Nobody would say it out loud, but the school thought that Star was just cozying up to Danny Phantom's best friend as part of her nature as a social climber.

After cheerleading practice one day, Paulina and Star were alone in the girl's locker room. "Star," Paulina began. "I just want to say how proud I am of you."

"For what?" Star asked.

"I've been trying to get Danny to be my boyfriend, but he keeps turning me down because he's apparently going out with weird goth girl," Paulina paused for a moment as her face contorted into an angry grimace. She took a deep breath and calmed herself.

"But that's another thing," she continued. "It wouldn't have occurred to me to get to him through Foley. It's probably not the most dignified of methods, but you've made more progress than me so who am I to judge." Paulina placed her hand on Star's shoulder. "I've taught you well."

"Tucker and I have been seeing each other in secret over six months," Star blurted out as she took Paulina's hand off her shoulder. She would have better articulated the dropping of that bombshell, but she was too pissed for that upon learning that Paulina saw their master/crony relationship as something more akin to teacher/student.

"What?" Paulina said with eyes widened in shock.

"You heard me," Star said with an angry glare. "I actually like Tucker. And now that you know this, you're going to kick me out of the A-list for going against standards."

"Okay Star….." Paulina began.

"I'm not done yet," Star interrupted. "You only think of me as your satellite. Over half this school worships the ground you walk on and even though I'm your right hand girl I don't get any of that admiration. You've never made any attempt to more evenly distribute your influence and I've never asked you to because you'd kick me out of the A-list for having an opinion of my own. You have been a very shitty friend!" Star yelled as she raised her middle finger at Paulina.

"Is that really necessary?" Paulina asked.

"F#^k yeah it's necessary," Star answered. "This has been building up for a long time and it feels it great to say it to your face."

"I meant flipping me off," Paulina clarified.

"Oh," Star said in a tone that indicated surprise. She looked at her hand and saw that she still had her middle finger raised. She lowered it and faced Paulina. "Yes, yes it was."

"Okay," Paulina said as she put her hand on her forehead and thought about what she was going to say. "I can see why you feel the way you do but I have always thought of us as friends."

"You mean the kind of friends where one friend has all the power over the other one?" Star asked indignantly.

"Yeah, like that," Paulina said nervously because she realized that that was how things worked between them. "I'll work on that and see what I can do about giving you some of my influence. Just know that I am sorry about making you feel like that."

"I'm sorry too," Star said as went up to Paulina and hugged her. "I've come to resent you so much that it never occurred to me that you'd do anything but act like the egomaniacal bitch I've come to think of you as."

"It's all right Star," Paulina said as she returned the hug. She was willing to overlook the phrasing of Star's sucky-ass apology because she had made her so very pissed off and felt bad about that now.

As they were hugging, Star thought about how she was originally willing to cut ties with Paulina. With Danny's status and her relationship with Tucker no longer a secret, she didn't have to depend on Paulina for her status and social life. She was very pleasantly surprised to see that Paulina was more reasonable than she gave her credit for.

They broke apart from their hug. ""I don't have to get to know Fo….. uh, I mean Tucker, do I?" Paulina asked.

"Relax," Star began, "I'll give you two a wide birth from each other."

_Thank god, _Paulina thought. Sure, she was willingly to make things cool with Star but she had her limits.

"How did you two even get together?" she asked.

Star smiled as she began tell Paulina the story.


End file.
